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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Tim Piccione

'I tried to push them off': Men 'acted together' in alleged motel rape, court told

The Lyneham Motor Inn, where the alleged assault is said to have taken place. File picture

Two men were "acting together" when they allegedly raped a woman in a Canberra motel room, a court has heard.

One of those men "told her repeatedly he was Spider-Man" during the alleged assault, prosecutor Melanie O'Connell said on Monday.

Seti Palei Moala, aged in his late 20s, has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent in company, choking, and two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

His co-accused, Paula Fala Kata, aged in his mid-thirties, has denied charges of sexual intercourse without consent in company and sexual intercourse without consent.

An ACT Supreme Court jury were told the alleged victim only recalled Kata as "the bigger guy" and Moala as "the younger guy" after she met them in the early hours of April 3, 2022, at Fiction nightclub in Civic.

"I tried to push them off," the woman told a police officer after the alleged incident.

"I'm someone's mother. I'm someone's daughter. I'm a human being."

CCTV footage captured the alleged victim meeting Kata at the club, and the pair kissing and dancing together. This was not in dispute, jurors heard during the prosecution's opening address.

The woman, her friend, Kata and another man eventually went home together to the Lyneham Motor Inn where the co-accused men were staying with other co-workers.

"We had sex which I believe was consensual at that point," the alleged victim said in a police interview played in court.

The alleged victim then recalled "dozing off".

"It's the Crown case she did not consent to what happened after she fell asleep," Ms O'Connell said.

It is then said the woman woke up with Moala on top of her after he had allegedly come home.

"I was trying to kick him off and throw him off. He kept saying he was Spider-Man," the alleged victim said.

Moala allegedly choked the woman, in order to hold her down, and raped her in multiple ways.

"I kept telling him to stop," the woman told police.

"I think he just wanted to hurt me for some reason."

Ms O'Connell told jurors: "Her lack of consent would have been obvious to him."

It is then alleged Kata approached and began raping the woman at the same time and that the men were "acting together".

Kata then allegedly raped the woman once more.

The alleged victim is said to have found a way out of the room, only covering herself with a motel blanket later seized by police.

The court heard the woman and her friend were driven home by another man who was allegedly crying and apologising.

The friend called emergency services immediately after being told of the allegation.

"She just told me she's been raped," that woman said in a recorded triple-zero conversation muffled by the sounds of the alleged victim sobbing.

Neither lawyers representing the accused men delivered opening addresses on Monday.

The trial continues.

  • Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732; Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 6247 2525.
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